Reeking Havoc
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: "Just keep your eyes open." A little story to fill in the blanks immediately after Annie was blown up in Havoc. Jimmy/Annie. Partnership/Friendship. Enjoy.


_**Okay so usually I wait until I've seen more that six episodes of a show to write a story about it, but I really loved the scene in Havoc where Annie gets blown up. So this is my take on what in that time lapse between Annie getting blown up and the next time we see her, which is where she's on the stretcher. Enjoy.**_

_**Spoilers: Havoc**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Chase or any of its characters.**_

Jimmy looked up at the sound of Annie's voice and saw Puckett standing at the perimeter of the market. Annie took off running towards the fugitive.

"Annie wait," Jimmy yelled after her. They had not secured that area yet, but she did not stop or even pause. She just kept running towards Pucket.

Jimmy saw what happened next in something like slow motion. There was a loud bang as tendrils of smoke and flame filled the air. Everything in the near vicinity was thrown back…including Annie.

Jimmy's heart stopped as he watched as his partner was thrown into the air. She slammed into a table. Then she fell to the floor beside it where she was lost from his line of vision.

Without a second thought, he took off running towards her. He did not care that the scene was not secured or that the bomb squad had not cleared the area or that Puckett might be making his escape at this very minute. All that mattered was Annie.

He found her limp body on the floor at the foot of the table she had hit. Quickly he crouched down next to her. Her shirt was torn in several places and she was covered in soot, but externally she looked more or less okay…except that she was unconscious. At least he prayed she was unconscious…if she was… He stopped that train of thought before it could go any farther. Gently he moved his hand to his partner's neck and felt for a pulse.

For a moment that seemed an eternity, there was nothing. Then he felt a faint pulse under his fingers. He breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive.

"Daisy," he called to the woman, who was standing several feet away with Luke and Marco, "Call an ambulance."

Daisy nodded once as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number. Neither she nor the men on either side of her made any other move. It was as if they were scared to move any closer. Jimmy turned back to Annie.

He could understand that fear. He had known Annie longer than any of the three of them, and he had seen her hurt before on a couple of occasions. It still scared him because she never got hurt. No matter what kind of crazy stunt she pulled, she never got hurt, and when you worked with her long enough you began to think that she could not get hurt. Then one day out of the blue something like this would happen. Jimmy shook his head. Not a lot of things scared him, but Annie getting hurt always did.

"I'm right here Boots," he murmured quietly, "Just stay with me." Reaching out, he wrapped his fingers around her hand and squeezed gently. "It's going to be alright."

The last part was more for his benefit that hers. He needed to be able to believe everything would be alright because he needed Annie to survive.

She might annoy him sometimes, and they might get into arguments, but for better and for worse she was his partner. More than once he had tried to imagine his life without Annie in it but found it an impossible task.

That was part of why he hated when she pulled her stupid stunts. She had no clue how much her death would devastate the team…or maybe she did. It was sometimes hard to tell with Annie, especially when it came to interpersonal emotions…or really emotions of any sort… He knew her well enough to know that you were lucky if she shared even a fraction of what she was feeling with you… except anger. She was usually pretty good with anger Jimmy thought a little ruefully.

Of course there were other ways of telling…for instance he knew that she cared deeply about the team because, for all her tough talk about the necessity of them following her orders, she had never, not even once, placed one of their lives in any more danger than they would be in if they were a US Marshall under someone else's command.

She would jump into those situations with no thought to the consequences, but never, in the many years he had worked with her, had she placed Daisy, Marco, or Luke's lives in jeopardy…at least not intentionally. For that matter Jimmy could not remember her ever asking him to stick his neck out very far either.

He shook his head. "You're crazy, Boots," he told her.

Suddenly the sound of sirens met his ears. They were distant but getting closer every second. "Someone go meet the paramedics," Jimmy instructed the other three, glancing towards them for a second. Then he turned back to Annie.

Her eyelids fluttered. Jimmy froze thinking he had imagined it, but after a moment they fluttered again. Jimmy's heart leapt. "Come on," he coaxed Annie holding her hand a little tighter, "Just open your eyes. You can do it."

Her eye flew open, and Jimmy saw terror reflected there. Almost immediately Annie tried to sit up, but Jimmy gently kept her on the ground. In truth, she would not have been able to get far anyway, but she did not need to strain herself trying.

"Hey Boots," Jimmy said talking softly in an attempt to calm his partner, "I'm right here. You're going to be just fine. The paramedics will be her in a few minutes just stay put until then. Okay."

Annie blinked once and Jimmy took that as confirmation that she had understood him. She began to relax a little knowing that her partner would not let anyone hurt her, and her eyes fluttered closed again.

"Annie," Jimmy told her warningly, "Keep your eyes open. You know what happens if you don't."

Annie blinked again. She knew perfectly well what might happen if she closed her eyes, but every second it was becoming harder to keep her eyelids from sliding shut. Still she struggled to keep them open.

"That a girl," Jimmy encouraged her, "Just keep your eyes open."

"Sir we need you to stand back for a moment."

Jimmy looked up at the paramedic. He had not heard the siren grow close or anyone else approach him. All his attention had been concentrated on Annie. "Of course," Jimmy replied a little reluctantly as he let go of Annie's hand and took a few steps back.

He watched very carefully as the paramedics lifted Annie onto a stretcher. He was not quiet sure what he was watching for…but he knew if they screwed up in anyway he would shoot them.

Annie could feel the paramedics lifting her onto the stretcher, but she was not watching them. Her eyes stayed on her partner the entire time. There was something she needed to ask him. She did not know what it was, but she knew it was important.

As the paramedics prepared to roll the stretcher back towards the ambulance, Jimmy moved closer and placed his hand on Annie's shoulder. His hand stayed there even as they began to move, and Annie's eyes began to close again.

"Annie," he warned her.

"What?" She mumbled sleepily.

"Keep your eyes open," he instructed her, "You hear me."

Suddenly she remembered what she needed to ask him. "Where's Puckett?

"Don't worry about Puckett," he told her resisting the urge to shake his head at her, "Just keep your eyes open."

"Go get Puckett," Annie commanded him.

Jimmy closed his eyes for a brief moment. He did not respond to her last comment. She knew he would go get Puckett. She did not need to tell him that. A very large, very insistent part of his being was screaming at him to ride with Annie to the hospital, to make sure she was okay, but he wouldn't. He would stay behind and work the case because that was his job.

So he stood there and watched as they loaded his partner into the ambulance and slammed the doors. Then they drove away. After a moment he turned around and found Daisy, Marco, and Luke standing in a semi-circle behind him. They were all watching him expectantly.

He could not offer them any comfort, and he did not know where Puckett had gone, but he did know one thing.

"We're gonna get this son of a bitch," Jimmy told the team, who all nodded in agreement.

_**I have got to say that I love Jimmy. He is so sweet to Annie. The bounty hunter on the other hand can just off somewhere and stay there. Anyway. Please review. Obviously this is my first Chase fic so be nice for it…constructive criticism is welcome…flames are not…**_


End file.
